This is Buying Sandlot — the only newsletter that focuses solely on the business of youth sports.
We are beginning to seek sponsors for our upcoming youth sports business conference in Philly next spring. If are you interested in sponsoring the event, just click this link to register your interest and our partnerships manager Paul will reach out to you this week. Sponsorships will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis, with preference given to our current newsletter partners.
Let’s get to it.
In the email today:
🎥 NBC To Debut Doc On Youth Sports Officials
The youth sports officiating crisis is going under a notable lens.
Whistle Blowers — a 30-minute documentary by NBC Local — will debut later this week in the Dallas-Fort Worth area before a national rollout early next week.
The film tells four unique stories:
A Mississippi softball umpire who was attacked by a parent in a parking lot
The experiences of a veteran Texas high school basketball referee
A developmental event for hoops officials in St. Louis
A Minnesota high school elective class encouraging students to become officials
Cody Broadway — NBC Local’s executive producer for documentaries and series and a youth sports parent — said a friend recommended the topic.
His subsequent reporting and research made it clear that officiating shortages and official abuse are critical issues not only across the U.S. but also globally.
“I grew up playing sports and my kids play sports,” Broadway told Buying Sandlot. “Usually a lot of things you only see is in your backyard, you think it’s just an issue here. I was shocked that during the interviews it was the exact same issues with each individual umpire or ref in their respective sports, in their location. It was just all a common thread.”
The documentary will first air on NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth at 8 and 10 p.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday as part of the station’s special back-to-school coverage.
The national launch is Monday, Sept. 1 at 10:30 p.m. ET on NBC News Now, and the documentary will be available on Peacock after that airing.
Broadway said many officials thanked him and NBC for shining a light on the challenges facing the profession.
“It’s a tricky thing to talk about,” Broadway said. “Especially being an official in an area, the fear of backlash from parents and whoever is a big thing.”
I was able to get an early look at the documentary, which is extremely well done.
The most powerful moments feature the umpire. The single mother of two gets emotional discussing how the assault changed her life while considering the possibilities had her assailant been carrying a weapon.
Broadway and his team also captured the most head-shaking part of the doc by coincidence while featuring her.
Another gripping moment: A hoops official discussing how he strategically parks his car so he can leave a game undetected.
The documentary mentions almost half the country now has some sort of law protecting youth sports officials on the books. But legislation is an imperfect answer for myriad reasons. Much more action is needed.
🏟️ The Shopify of Youth Sports Tournaments*
There are only a handful of companies that deserve the moniker: The Shopify of [X].
That’s because it’s rare when one platform can cover all of a business’ needs in a single interface.
EventConnect is the Shopify of sports tournaments.
It’s the leading no-cost platform built specifically for organizers who juggle schedules and hotel blocks in the same breath.
registration
rostering
payments
real-time performance reports
lodging and more
Their proprietary HousingConnect tech bolts room blocking and booking straight onto checkout, delivering the best online group rates while parents still have their credit cards out.
This means up to:
30% more room night reservations
24% savings on team hotel costs
EventConnect already powers 9,000 events, taps 30,000 hotels across 800 destinations, and backs it all with class-leading customer support.
Want to join them?
*Sponsor
🤰 The Surge of Parent Products Cometh?
based on Project Play data
On Monday, I wrote:
But most parents - especially of younger athletes - spend countless hours at community soccer and baseball fields, with little-to-no concession options beyond some kids standing at a snack table with candy, pretzels, and maybe hot dogs.
Who is building “the Aramark for youth sports concessions”?
Right on cue: Project Play double-clicked on one area of its March youth sports parent survey this week: the amount of time parents spend on their children’s sports activities.
There are many interesting findings. Among them:
Children aged 11-14 spend more time on their primary sport each week than kids aged 15-18
Parents spend on average 30 minutes per day driving their child on a day with a sports activity (skews higher income and white)
6 in 10 sports parents volunteer on average of 4+ hours per week
But I’d like to call special attention to the following results:
3 hours and 23 minutes per day parents spend on sports on days their child has a game or practice
71% eat out more than 2 days per week due to sports
36% of parents say sports contribute to unhealthy eating habits
If we triangulate based on all of these bullets, there are tens of millions of high-income, prime-earning-years adults spending 3+ hours per day 3-4x per week as an executive assistant, with nothing to eat. This commitment is in lieu of leisure, work and family time (perhaps not in that order).
It’s worth discussing the merits of all this, but since we’re the business of youth sports newsletter, let’s focus on the opportunities to service parents.
There are some people building in this space— many of which we’ve featured before:
Onsides (I’m an advisor): Aggregates calendar and contacts from leading platform apps with an AI layer to help busy parents
Valhalla FC Arena: Serves as a model for what food and beverage options for parents can look like at a youth sports complex
Duesy: While designed for tournament operators, the payment and ticketing platform leverages text messages to provide parents helpful updates at chaotic tournaments
Rematch: AI-powered app to help parents capture moments without flooding their phone storage
The Pick-Up Club: Aims to organize unstructured pickup games, providing more balance for players and freeing up parental commitment
There are countless more opportunities to address what I think is a multi-billion $ with a B market, including:
The Aramark for youth sports concessions: better, higher-quality quick-service meals accessible at the many small- and mid-sized facilities and fields across the country
Sideline comfort and “parent lounge” areas: the products exist but they are self-serve (or BYO)— the opportunity is in a partnership and distribution network that makes it easy for parents to access this experience at the field, so they can relax or get work done
Sports Traveler Benefits: credit cards cater to business travelers (for good reason— it’s lucrative), but a card or club that provides perks and bonuses for spending on sports travel would crush among this group (Dick’s seems exceedingly well-positioned, with the scale to execute this)
School Buses for Sports, Sports Bus™: doesn’t actually have to be a bus, but reliable, safe transport for kids of parents who can’t devote time to drive kids to practice
I think we’re just scratching the surface here.
We’ll prepare a deep dive on the TAM and opportunities in this space for premium members.
⚽️ Op-Ed Sounds Alarm On American Soccer Pipelines
Cal men’s soccer coach Leonard Griffin and former U.S. Women’s National Team member Lindsey Huie called out the sport’s pay-to-play model in an opinion piece for Sports Business Journal.
They advocate for changes and improvements to national talent identification and support to ensure pathways for all athletes.
“Without intervention, the U.S. soccer industry risks losing generational powerhouses, not because they lack talent, but because they lack the financial resources to be seen,” they wrote.
The column comes weeks after an academic report came to similar conclusions about Canada’s national soccer infrastructure.
📍New Way To Connect With Youth Sports Camps
Legacy of Legends, which launched in June, aims to differentiate itself from other youth sports search portals by vetting academies, camps and programs based on key principles — safety and coaching excellence and philosophy.
The platform is free for families. There are three annual subscription tiers for operators to be featured on the platform once they are approved.
There is also an associated non-profit organization, Create A Legend Foundation, to remove access and participation barriers through grants.
Founder and CEO Dylan Meyer said he expects to have 500+ camps on the platform later this fall.
“We don't just allow any camp or program to pay and be on our platform. We only promote academies, camps and programs that meet our rigorous standards,” he told Buying Sandlot. "We're hoping that one day camps and programs realize that if they're not on Legacy of Legends, then something may in fact be wrong with their camp. Because they are not one of the best."
🧱 A Youth Sports Facilities Trend
Not sure if we are officially in Trend Watch™ territory yet, but we may be close.
A defunct movie theater in Waco, Texas, will be repurposed into a youth sports complex.
The facility will have space for baseball, softball, basketball, volleyball and soccer, plus strength and conditioning space.
This comes on the heels of a St. Louis businessman’s plan to turn an abandoned bowling alley into a youth sports facility with two soccer fields, a basketball/volleyball court and a pickleball court.
There are existing or proposed youth sports adaptive reuse cases with abandoned malls, closed casinos, a decommissioned Air Force base and even an old junkyard in the Midwest.
It makes sense: Open floor plans and high ceilings, plenty of bathrooms and parking, kitchen space, desirable locations, etc.
📋 Job Alert: Program Manager, NHL Street — RCX Sports
The youth sports operator is hiring a point person for its NHL Street hockey programs.
Program Manager – NHL STREET is responsible for overseeing and managing the operations, growth, and development of the NHL STREET hockey programs at RCX Sports. In this role you’ll regularly work with RCX Sports senior leadership, NHL, and all NHL Clubs to continue to grow NHL STREET program and strategy. This position will report to the Vice President of Program Management and requires a background in the youth sports industry and working with professional sports teams or organizations.
The salary range is $77K-$82K. The position is remote. A full job listing can be found on LinkedIn.
🔗 Youth Sports Links
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Good game.